The Three Spinners

Once upon a time, there lived a girl who was so lazy that she would not spin at all, no matter how much her mother scolded her. Finally, her mother became so angry that she beat the girl, making her cry loudly.

At that very moment, the queen happened to be driving by and heard the weeping. She stopped her carriage and asked the mother, “Why are you beating your daughter so that her cries can be heard out on the road?”

The mother was too ashamed to admit that her daughter was lazy, so she replied, “I cannot get her to stop spinning! She wants to spin constantly, and I am so poor that I cannot provide her with enough flax.”

“I love nothing better than the sound of spinning wheels,” said the queen, quite pleased. “Let me take your daughter to my palace. I have plenty of flax, and she may spin as much as she likes.”

The mother was delighted to be rid of her lazy daughter, and the queen took the girl away in her carriage.

When they arrived at the palace, the queen led the girl to three large rooms that were filled from floor to ceiling with the finest flax.

“Now spin all this flax,” commanded the queen, “and when you have finished, you shall marry my eldest son. Even though you are poor, your love of hard work makes you worthy to be a princess.”

The girl was terrified, for she knew she could not spin even the smallest amount of flax, not even if she lived for three hundred years and worked every single day. When she was left alone, she began to weep bitterly and sat there for three days without moving her hands at all.

On the third day, the queen came to see how the work was progressing. When she found that nothing had been spun, the girl excused herself by saying she had been too upset about leaving her mother’s house to begin working.

The queen accepted this explanation but warned, “Tomorrow you must begin your work.”

When the girl was alone again, she sat by the window in despair, not knowing what to do. As she looked out, she saw three peculiar women approaching the palace.

The first woman had an enormous flat foot that was wide as a paddle. The second had such a large lower lip that it hung down over her chin. The third had a huge thumb, broad as a shovel.

These strange women stopped beneath her window and called up, “What troubles you, young maiden?”

The girl told them of her distress, and they said, “If you will invite us to your wedding and not be ashamed of us, and will call us your aunts and seat us at your table, we will spin all this flax for you, and it will be done very quickly.”

“With all my heart!” cried the girl. “Please come up and begin at once.”

The three women entered the room and cleared a space. The first woman set up her spinning wheel and began to spin, drawing out the thread and working the pedal with her enormous foot. The second woman wet the thread with her huge lip. The third woman twisted it and struck the table with her massive thumb, and every time she struck, a skein of perfectly spun thread fell to the ground.

The girl hid the three women from the queen, and whenever the queen visited, she showed her the increasing piles of beautifully spun thread. The queen was amazed and delighted by the girl’s apparent progress.

When the first room was completely finished, they moved to the second, and then to the third. Soon all three rooms were empty of flax, and in their place were countless skeins of the finest thread ever seen.

Then the three women departed, saying to the girl, “Remember your promise to us, and it will bring you good fortune.”

The queen was astonished when she saw the empty rooms and the magnificent work. She immediately arranged for the wedding, and the lazy girl was married to the prince with great celebration.

“You have such a dear wife,” the queen said to her son. “She is the most industrious woman I have ever met.”

At the wedding feast, as the bride had promised, the three strange women appeared at the palace. The bride greeted them warmly and said, “Dear aunts, please come and sit at my table.”

The prince was shocked by their appearance and asked his new wife, “How did you come to have such ugly relatives?”

Then he turned to the woman with the flat foot and asked, “Why do you have such a broad foot?”

“From pedaling the spinning wheel,” she replied.

He asked the second woman, “Why do you have such a hanging lip?”

“From wetting the thread,” she answered.

He asked the third woman, “Why do you have such a broad thumb?”

“From twisting the thread,” she said.

Upon hearing this, the prince was horrified and declared, “Then my beautiful wife shall never touch a spinning wheel again, for I will not have her beauty ruined by such work!”

And so the lazy girl was freed from spinning forever. She became a beloved queen, and though she never spun another thread in her life, she ruled wisely and well. She always remembered the three women who had helped her and made sure that no woman in her kingdom was ever forced to spin beyond her strength or desire.

The three strange women disappeared as mysteriously as they had come, but the queen never forgot their kindness. She often wondered if they had been magical beings sent to help her in her hour of need, and she made it her practice to help others who found themselves in difficult situations.

As for her mother, who had been so angry about her daughter’s laziness, she was amazed and delighted when she learned that her “lazy” daughter had become a queen. She visited the palace often and lived in comfort for the rest of her days, never again needing to worry about spinning or any other household chores.

And they all lived happily ever after.